I'm afraid that people misunderstand the NYT best-seller list and how it operates. I don't understand it either, because it's SECRET! It's also subject to editorial discretion, meaning they can ignore actual sales if they feel like it, with no transparency or responsibility to the public. It's important to realize that not all sales are …
I'm afraid that people misunderstand the NYT best-seller list and how it operates. I don't understand it either, because it's SECRET! It's also subject to editorial discretion, meaning they can ignore actual sales if they feel like it, with no transparency or responsibility to the public. It's important to realize that not all sales are counted; numbers are collected from certain retailers (a small percentage) throughout the US and used to estimate an average saleability. So most of our purchases are NOT being counted. Again, the list of privileged bookstores and other retailers is secret; otherwise, authors would target them. I know about this because I worked in one of the select few bookstores, years ago. The NYT claims that they gather data from a "diverse" selection, and that may be true, but I would note that the store I worked in had a wealthy and largely conservative (and almost totally white) clientele. I'll also point out that they definitely DO count pre-orders. We should definitely buy the book, and spread it far and wide. But the NYT list is a scam; we can't count on it helping us.
Here's some info, but not much, since it's all secret:
I'm afraid that people misunderstand the NYT best-seller list and how it operates. I don't understand it either, because it's SECRET! It's also subject to editorial discretion, meaning they can ignore actual sales if they feel like it, with no transparency or responsibility to the public. It's important to realize that not all sales are counted; numbers are collected from certain retailers (a small percentage) throughout the US and used to estimate an average saleability. So most of our purchases are NOT being counted. Again, the list of privileged bookstores and other retailers is secret; otherwise, authors would target them. I know about this because I worked in one of the select few bookstores, years ago. The NYT claims that they gather data from a "diverse" selection, and that may be true, but I would note that the store I worked in had a wealthy and largely conservative (and almost totally white) clientele. I'll also point out that they definitely DO count pre-orders. We should definitely buy the book, and spread it far and wide. But the NYT list is a scam; we can't count on it helping us.
Here's some info, but not much, since it's all secret:
https://www.novlr.org/the-reading-room/the-new-york-times-bestseller-lists-explained